THE WHITE WORLD 



British Expedition under Sir George Nares, but which 

 was forced to return without accomplishing their errand. 

 They found the cache all right, and proceeded " home- 

 ward " therewith, but on the road Sergeant Elison became 

 so badly frostbitten, that they were forced to abandon the 

 meat on a large paleocrystic floe, put Elison into the sledge, 

 and bring him to our miserable quarters. The little party 

 came in very much exhausted, and the condition of Elison 

 was pitiable in the extreme. His face, hands and feet were 

 fearfully frozen, and his agony was heartrending. We did 

 everything in our power to alleviate his pains, and the com- 

 manding officer gave up his mattress — one of the two found 

 in the cache of the Proteus wreck and which were always 

 used by the sick — to make him more comfortable. I sat, 

 or rather cowered, night after night (when I say night I 

 mean the time corresponding to that part during which it 

 is night in temperate zones) watching and comforting the 

 poor fellow, and ministering to his wants to the best of 

 my poor ability. Dr. Pavy would relieve me during the 

 rest of the twenty-four hours, and every man in the com- 

 mand would at all times aid us in any little office required. 

 We had hopes at first, that some of the frozen parts 

 were only superficially bitten, but our illusions were soon 

 destroyed. Both feet slowly sloughed off at the ankle 

 joints, and his fingers dried up and became mummified. We 

 could entertain no thought of an operation, as any attempt 

 to amputate would have caused a loss of blood which, in 

 the weakened state of the patient, would have had serious 

 consequences. We were obliged, therefore, to confine our- 

 selves to keeping the wounds clean, and to effect that pur- 

 pose I dressed them daily. This was not an easy matter, 

 since water was such a very scarce commodity, and had to 

 be used most sparingly. At first I used a little borated 

 cotton and the few bandages we had taken along for 

 emergencies, together with the one pound can of carbo- 

 lated vaseline, and the little carbolic acid at my command. 

 All this was employed as judiciously as possible, but as 

 there were other small frostbites among my comrades, be- 

 sides several sore fingers which needed dressing, my supply 

 became exhausted very quickly. The commanding officer 

 then set apart all the lard, of which we had found a couple 



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